Starlight Part 5

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#18 of Magnum's Storyline


Vanessa is in the shower, humming away at the days upcoming events as she looking forward to hanging out with Sabrina tomorrow, the get together with the two of them, her children and Magnum in her opinion is going to go very well. Speaking of the mystic, she's been wondering on how Magnum has been acting lately as after the doe visited he's been a little more reserved then normal, she thinks about his past trauma and comes to the conclusion that his ptsd is flaring up. Sabrina was far from a saint as she remembers, but as far back as she knows the doe never really sought any harm on purpose. Vanessa sighs as she turns the shower off, the skunks steps out of the shower and begins to dry off, she looks to her reflection in the mirror and examines herself from her d-cup breasts to her hips as her tail gently swooshes, she knows she's still got it given her looks, but her main thing over the past twenty years or so was her children with men being the furthest from her mind as she focused on wanting to be a mom. She begins to examine her feminine form, a fine craft of nature as she begins to apply some of her make up when another thought hits her when it comes to Magnum, come to think of he always seems to avoid eye contact or any attention towards women he doesn't know or introduced to, even more he seems to avoid looking at women who are more exposed...

The mature skunk stops what she's doing and looks herself over again, she blinks at herself in the mirror 'Is he afraid of our physice? Our form...?', she goes back to applying her make up 'Why would he be afraid of a woman's body?', she admits to herself that while the female body can have it's... inconveniences, but it was nothing to be afraid of at least as far as she knew.

Vanessa finishes getting ready with a pair of jeans and high heels with a black blouse, something in the air catches her attention as she puts her clothes in a hamper, she focuses on it and sounds like a whimper. The skunk heads to Magnum's room where the noise is coming from, she opens the door carefully and sees that the wolf is asleep, she sees him clutching his pillow, his face half-buried into it as a whimper escapes his lips. Vanessa blinks as she approaches him, she can feel her maternal instincts kicking in as she gets right next to the bed to try to figure out what's wrong with the mystic, the sight reminds her a little when her children use to have some pretty bad nightmares and it kind of breaks her heart. Vanessa slowly gets onto the bed, carefully pulling the wolf into a warm embrace as her tail swoops around him, Magnum gives another whimper as he lightly shutters this time, prompting her to place her pink nose against his black one, concern creeping into her eyes.

Magnum's blue eyes flutter open for a few seconds, he seems to be stuck somewhere between deep sleep and waking up, sounding a "Ah... uhhh....?"

Vanessa nuzzles him "It's okay hon, it's Vanessa. Just relax and rest, I'm right here."

The wolf stops shuttering and slowly relaxes his muscles, the skunks purple eyes look to his marks and sees what looks like sparks, they are black at first but quickly turn to light blue and then white, the skunk begins to pet the side of his face, he gives another shudder, it's quick but it is noticeable like a lightning bolt in the sky.

The skunk holds onto him 'Poor thing, what has you so upset, I wish you would talk to me.'

For the mystic, he is running around in the nightmare world of constant rainfall as the normal-looking environment slowly degrades, he looks behind him to see a twisting shadow giving chase, the mystic flings ice shard and blades of wind but the being either goes around the attacks or separates a portion of itself temporarily to avoid the damage. Suddenly brick wall materializes in front of him, Magnum turns around and readies his beam attack, the fearsome attack blasts forth, the area around the focused energy vaporizes from heat death and it obliterates a a small building at the end of the desolate road. The mystic takes a breath as he regains himself, the shadow comes from behind him and wraps him in it's embrace, slowly it changes to Kathleen, the jackal giving him a twisted smile as she licks the side of his face, sending a frightened shudder up his spine.

Kathleen begins to laugh "Aww, I think my baby wants some attention... I can help with that." her claws slowly cutting through his shirt, light crimson flowing from some of it "You were always so tense, let me see if I can aid you in that."

Magnum begins to struggle as his powers aren't working for some reason "Kathleen... stop!"

The jackals eyes flash red, barbed wire comes from the ground and air, wrapping the mystics limbs and going tight, earning a silent scream from the wolf. Kathleen slowly comes around, her claw cuts through the mystics pants as a chuckle escapes her throat, the jackal begins to cut up his pant and underwear entirely as he struggles, he didn't care if he lost his hands and feet, all he wanted to do was get away even if he was running on stumps. Kathleen finishes getting the mystic lower half exposed, she stands upright, gripping the mystics neck with her right grip as she uses her left hand to drop her pants, revealing she isn't wearing any underwear underneath those black pants and grips him down there.

Kathleen's teeth form an evil smirk "Still the same defenseless weakling I overwhelmed all that time ago... right down to... THIS!!!" and slams the back of his head against the brick wall.

The jackal shoves him inside of her, his bloodshot eyes looking to her in a whimper as she begins to get to work, tears form in his eyes as Kathleen forces her tongue into his mouth, a hungry look in those demonic eyes of hers. For the wolf he isn't sure how much time had passed nor did it matter to him, he just wanted it to stop, he wanted the jackal to stop her ravage assault, all while he can feel something build up in his neathers.

Kathleen breaks her 'kiss' as her hips begin to pick up speed "Come on, I can feel ya! Give me my prize, I demand it!"

Magnum can feel it, it's eager to come out but he tries to fight it, but he begins to gasps and at the last second...

The mystics eyes shoot open at that second, his eyes ablaze in light blue as he looks terrified to Vanessa's surprise, aside from a subtle shake his body is virtually locked in place. The skunk takes in how petrified he is, she's never seen him like this and it's very troubling as he looks to be conscious but his eyes give off the look of witnessing pure horror.

Vanessa does her best to maintain her embrace and gentle touch "It's alright hon, you're safe in your room and I'm making sure that your alright." those purple eyes looking him over.

His blue eyes for a few more moments have this thousand yard stare but soon they relax as the energy in them begins to fade, the skunk continues to soothe him as his eyes almost close all the way and she completely holds him, keeping her nose level with his, she thinks about for a few moments about what to do next, something to help him break out of this fear-filled trance he's in, she lightly kisses him on his forehead to see if that works, carefully holding his cheek as she does it. The mystic slowly closes his eyes as tears leave them, the skunk places her head on top of his, she begins to wonder just how harsh things must have been for him to have a reaction like this as she decides to stay with him until he properly wake up. Just behind her she hears a soft beeping, she glances to see Magnum's comm device is giving a flashing light, she reaches out and picks it up to see it's Elvo... maybe she can get some answers to try to help the younger male and answers it.

Elvo's holographic image appears "Magnum?! Your vitals spiked almost off the... charts..." realizing she's talking to Vanessa, the coyote's visage showing her worry instantly.

Vanessa takes a breath "It's okay Elvo I've been helping him calm down." the mature skunk whispers "I heard him whimpering in his sleep, I thought I got him to drift out of it but he quickly became frightened once more."

The a.i. quickly inquires what was taking place as she also requests the skunk to not leave out any details no matter how small, the skunk informs her of everything that transpired, earning a sigh from the coyote but Vanessa also states that she wants to help the mystic however she can.

Elvo glances to the mystic, she remembers the promise she made him back when they first met, that she would never simply tell anyone about what had happened to him unless they were brought up to speed to a major degree by the mystic himself, but the spike she just witness was far greater then anything seen before, the spike in every type of brain wave was something she never thought she would see... she hates to do it but she will have to break that promise at least partially, Magnum needs the ability to move on for his own sake, it was women who destroyed him... and it'll be good women that'll help restore him.

The coyote gives a heavy sigh "I understand that you know women have played a key role in his development for better or worse, as far as I know he did seek having a mate at some point in his earlier years. But because of his appearance he was turned away time and again, the sad details lay in when his mother and father separated with her walking away from him... sadly that is only part of the greater story." glancing away towards the end.

Vanessa blinks, she knew there had to be more to this situation and Magnum's feelings.

Elvo continues "Magnum did eventually meet a woman, but the outcome wasn't in his favor.", those digital eyes look to the mystic "She did a very heinous act to him, one that finally broke him and gave him the full idea that all women are monsters, creatures that needed to be destroyed, especially if they were the oppressors. One of the first crusades Magnum ever did was what we call the Crusade of Rage and it's one that'll haunt me forever, at the time his most advanced unit of power armor was the tesla suit, a mere toy compared to the albion and it was before he became a knight. The feminist dictatorship of the world tortured their males, regardless of age or anything else as their fascist ways lead to many deaths, Magnum had proposed the cease of the cruelty and that rights be given to where both sides were equal, but this was turned down. Under Magnum's actions a civil war erupted as female defectors joined in the revolution for mens rights, by wars end Magnum had had scorched a quarter of the world and over 35 million people lost their lives. Now the world lives with both sexes being equal, mostly out of fear that if such a thing were to occur for either one that Magnum would return and simply destroy everything, they even created a holiday that works as a reminder.", the coyote thinks back to the image the mystic bared in the aftermath "Magnum by wars end... there wasn't one inch of that armor that didn't have gore on it, even the tesla coils were caked in burnt gore and where ever he walked there was a crimson trail.... and I saw everything from the feeds as I saw his anger exploded unchecked, cleaving through forces that had surrendered, using his powers to eviscerate entire squads to shreds with ice and air, using the blood to drown their comrades to crushing the helpless under his powered greeves and slowly breaking bones with his digits thanks to his gauntlets."

Vanessa can't believe what she is hearing, to now know Magnum's earlier battles were ones of vendetta, revenge and fury, rather then the noble actions he had shared with her of recent action. But it did make sense and it lines up with what the two had talked about off and on, if anything to her it was good to know exactly where the mystic was coming from and it justifies his trust issues with the opposite sex. She looks to the mystic with those purple eyes, she's amazed he's even letting her near him let alone holding him like this, between Elvo and the women he has met recently it really must've had an effect to at least he isn't hostile willing to try to have some friends of the opposite gender. She isn't sure if Elvo shares this point of view, but in her eyes the women where he is from failed him, it seemed a lot of people did in the end, but now he's seeing women in a more positive light... one that can be easily snuffed out if one is not careful.

The coyote puts on a weak smile "He has changed so much since then, he has learned that women are not the enemy and like anything else there is good and bad. It has caused so much damage, he even took a medication that removed his emotions so he could function, his nightmares got stronger and stronger and he avoided sleeping if he could. It has taken a long time for me to learn how the mystics function generally, their powers are extraordinary but they are still mortal and their emotions are far stronger then how you would feel them, I still don't know much but it seems negative emotions over a long span of time effects them the most.", tears begin to form in those digital eyes "And that's why I'm scared for him, I'm scared that he'll either die from it or slip and become something that all of us will dread.", she looks to the skunk square in the eyes "Please as someone who has run out of options and cares, I ask you, please help me save my brother." digital tears streaming down here cheeks.

The skunk for a moment or two looks at Elvo, to see how much she cares for Magnum the way she does is something she never thought she would see from an a.i. at all, it's touching to see such a thing that a machine can see the value of a life, a trait that so many have lost actually. Vanessa looks to the sleeping mystic beside her, realizing just how frail he really is emotionally, that also means that he doesn't know a woman's advances or anything like that, she also notices that the coyote is leaving out what happened to him... she's guessing that she's going to let Magnum fill that blank in. The main thing though is that Vanessa cares about the mystic and what is going on with him, having him live with her has allowed her to bond with him to some extent as she's enjoyed spending time with and getting to know him, she's sure that he's going through the same thing on his end.

Vanessa looks to Elvo "In the time I have been with him Elvo, I can say he needs help as he has talked to me off and on, I just wasn't sure how deep it went. Magnum is my friend and I'll help him as best I can, he's far more then a sugar baby."

Elvo gives a nod "T-Thank you, you have no idea how that makes me feel." those eyes looking towards the mystic.

Elvo's image fades as the skunk looks to the mystic again while placing the device back, Vanessa gives him another nuzzle to show him she's still there. Eventually the mystic slowly wakes up to see he's in the skunks embrace which causes him to put on a look of confusion.

Vanessa prts the back of his head "You had us worried there Magnum, are you alright?"

The mystic feels like he didn't rest at all and he's in this depressed fog, he gives a sigh "I don't know... what happened?"

Vanessa tells Magnum what had taken place from his whimper to the shock he went into which caused Elvo to appear. Magnum lets another sigh slip out as he sits up with the skunk staying with him, he puts his face in his hands and rubs his eyes as Vanessa begins to gently rub his back, those purple eyes offering him solace. The mystic begins to think about the nightmare, it didn't flare up as often as it use to but when it did it hit him like a truck and he also felt dirty and cold from it and it always left him feeling humiliated. The trouble though is that this is the strongest it has ever been and while he may very well be hesitant of talking about what happened to him... he decides to finally talk about it.

Magnum looks to Vanessa "Is it... okay if we can talk?"

The skunk can easily see and hear the unease coming from him, but now she'll know probably the main detail she's been missing "Of course Magnum, I'm here to listen." taking one of his hands.

Magnum begins to speak and at first it is the same information that Elvo had just told her, but then there comes the part that she's been waiting for as the mystic gives off a breath as cold as ice, freezing the air for a few moments.

The mystic continues as his body shivers from it's own chill "You see, I eventually met a jackal named Kathleen who is a very manipulative person as she and eventually started dating, but I didn't know who she was. One day we were just hanging out and she attacked me, she smashed my head against the wall and raped me.", Vanessa's eyes pop open as she gasps at the horror of that statement "No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get her to stop. Finally I just snapped as I finally had enough of the world... and I carried out my own plan, I built a shuttle from what materials I could get my hands on as well as my first suit of power armor, it was then I discovered my powers from the stress and I smitted Kathleen.... before I fled the Earth to space. Eventually I met Elvo aboard a hulk that would eventually become the Howl of Silver..." and he ends up going into details about the Crusade of Rage, eventually saying he became a knight to serve the greater good and to hopefully find some kind of atonement or redemption for what he had done.

For the skunk it's a lot to take in to say the least, after dealing with so much and snapping after losing a parent and being raped, being sent into a rage to where he killed his tormentor, she's surprised that he was able to turn around the way he did, but she questions him about Kathleen because he talks like she's still alive and he explains that she came back as a demon by following something that uses the curved seven as it's symbol. Vanessa gives a sigh as she tries to process all the information, she looks the mystic over and he looks completely defeated and lost.

Magnum closes his eyes "It's pathetic, despite all my powers, all my technology and all the tools at my disposal, I can't move on from the pain, the nightmares... the memories. In the end I became a monster."

Vanessa brings him into an embrace "Magnum... it's okay, there's nothing wrong with you and you are not a monster. You have been through so much and you pile everything on top of you, I wish I could take your pain away but I can't and you did so much damage out of anger it's staggering.", she kisses his forehead once more "I know what I am about to say is going to sound kind of harsh, but I'm saying it out of concern for you... you need to figure out how to move on to where none of this controls you anymore.", she puts on a smile "And if you need me I'll be right beside you."

The mystic hugs the skunk, that's when it hits her of why Magnum was acting up, Sabrina is known to be a bit of a flirt but she doesn't know how to control herself especially around men that she finds attractive, since she's going to be meeting up with the doe for lunch she is going to have to have a word with her to let her know she can't be 'playful' with the mystic due to past experience. Vanessa knows that this'll be a challenge them, as Magnum's mental state isn't stable and he would never go to a therapist, heck in her opinion they didn't really work anyway. She begins to think on how to tackle the situation, given that Magnum is primarily book and computer smart the best starting point is seeing if she can find some information on her own to get the mystic started as this is a field he likely doesn't know where to begin with this.

Magnum sighs "There is one more thing..." his lips quivering.

Vanessa looks to him "It's okay Magnum, speak your mind."

The wolf continues "After I killed my attacker on Earth, I left a note saying good bye to my dad as I didn't want to drag him down with me and I tracked down my mom because I wanted some answers before I left. She left my dad for some high school lover she had back in her youth, I asked her why she did what she did... she said that she did it because she wanted to happy. I didn't understand her answer and all I did was stand there while both she him looked at me... I lost control and I.... I..."

The skunk pulls him into a hug "Magnum?"

Magnum can't hold it in anymore... "MAMA!!! I'M SORRY!!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO LOSE CONTROL! I DIDN'T MEAN TO USE MY POWERS, I WAS ANGRY!!!" tears streaming down his cheeks as he shudders.

Vanessa keeps her embrace in place 'He killed his mom by accident... Magnum... I'm so sorry.', she kisses the top of his head "It's alright hon, I've got ya. Let it all out." rubbing his back.

..............

Aboard the Zatyor Tvso, the mystical crew are scrambling here and there as for a brief moment they picked the target signature with Za'vara practically breathing on them, despite the spike not really giving results that the sensor can lock onto, it is enough to convey something.

Mo'Ceva looks at the energy, her eyes interpreting it as she reads it "It looks like our target is in pain."

Za'vara is looking over a dias "He was having some issues in the short time I was with him, though it isn't much to be concerned with."

Mo'Ceva slowly looks to her with a subtle glare "Are you sure about that? Take a look at this signature."

Za'vara takes her position next to her 'advisor' and looks at the scanned signature, the picture of energy shows something in the blue, it is buried but if one looks closely there is a sliver of purple mixed in. Za'vara pulls up the previous scan and she sees that the purple signature that wasn't noticed before was a lot smaller.

Mo'Ceva sighs "The negative emotions this one has is manifesting, but a signature like this takes months or even years, a pain that slowly devours us from the inside...", she glares at Za'vara "And it is one that can be fixed and is reversible."

Za'vara scoffs "Magnum needs to be destroyed, we won't be diplomatic in this!" in a cold whisper, trying to keep her voice down amongst the crew.

Mo'Ceva watches her head back towards the dias, she decides to secretly send a short transmission to Aru'ksa with Magnum's scans, she looks back to the captured signature, she has seen this before like most other mystics, upon zooming in on the purple it is anchoring to the blue energy now, something that wasn't displayed on the previous capture and Mo'Ceva doesn't know what scares her more, that this could have been prevented or that Za'vara and her search will have full merit and what may come from that alone. Mo'Ceva does notice though that even with the purple trying to take over the blue is keeping it at bay as best it can, based on what she has heard and read on their target, Magnum has some pretty strong personal demons but his actions show a knight putting things right, the mystic vixen quietly takes out her own deck of tarot cards, tuning them to show her Magnum's draw with Za'vara and now she has an idea of why this witch hunt has taken place as well as seeing the vision Za'vara did... but this is only one possible outcome as far as she was concerned, it was powerful sure and while it is a cause for alert, it only warranted an investigation under the Guild's constitution that both she and Aru'ksa were aiming for rather then the search and destroy mission that Za'vara clearly wants to do. The issue is that while Magnum has certainly caused a lot of destruction, there is nothing that points to him being a threat as he had turned to become a knight of valor and honor rather then an icon pure destruction, while those of the vanquished certainly do have a grudge or hatred of him, some of them agree that their fallen empires were out of line and needed someone to level the playing field. Magnum's track record is impressive to say the least, not just to her but all the other mystics, a tale of battle and innovation against the solid and the fluid, stories of giving recovery of olive branch after a fiery storm.

Mo'Ceva comes to a conclusion 'Do you think he is going to undergo the Dark Change?' she sighs to herself 'He can still be saved Za'vara, he isn't lost yet.'

....................

A wolf back on Earth is putting up posters that read 'Son Missing' with a picture of Magnum and some information, the wolf has a top coat of brown and a lower coat of white with blue eyes and no hair, this is Brom, Magnum's father. For two years he's been looking for his boy, many saying that he's dead because he's been missing for so long or that he's a fugitive on the run... both of these Brom has dismissed, he believes his son is still alive with even Magnum's group of friends occasionally helping the older wolf. Brom stumbles into his apartment after a long day of work and hanging some posters and flyers, he looks at a photo of back when he was still married to his late wife Farryn, a wolfess with long brown hair, blue eyes and her fur is similar to their sons minus the blue markings and her tail is a regular top grey and bottom white, with their son standing with them, all three with smiles as Farryn held their son in a half hug and Brom scratching the top of his sons head... he wonders what had happened to make what had happened transpire as he'll likely never understand it. But now with his wife gone his main focus is finding his son, picturing him alone and afraid to come home, that all Brom wants to do is to find and carry him home where he's safe and get him on track.

Brom looks out the window to the night sky as he tries not to cry "Where are you my son?"

To be continued...